Life Cycle of Islands
The Unknown (formation, unknown duration) It is not known exactly how islands are formed, no amount of scientific equipment is able to penetrate deep enough into the Nix to witness it first hand. What is theorised though is that as both pressure and temperature increase the deeper you go, eventually all mass that falls below a certain depth is crushed and becomes one with the swirling mass. It is believed that a number of different forces are in effect within the Nix pushing and pulling, destroying and reforming, eventually creating something anew. By chance or design, crystalline structures are formed, charged and encased in stone and landmass and are ejected from the Nix. Thus beginnings the life of a new New Born (the first month) In its infancy, a new island emerges from the depths still hot and malleable. This infantile island will change shape on the way up, picking up smaller islands it collides with as it rises and gaining more mass. These 'new-born' islands have a strange sort of gravity field that causes all mass that was spat out at the same time to gravitate to it even if broken away. It is only if pushed too far away from the core will these smaller isles lose the field that holds them afloat and drops them out of the sky. A the core of every new island is a crystalline structure, the size of which is relative to the size of the mass it is holding up. It is usually 0.1-1% of the whole size and may not always always be a single crystal. These crystals seem tuned to a certain resonance that corresponds with a rough height band and thus from the moment it is born, the island is destined to settle a certain distance from the Nix. Growing (first 6 months) As it rises, the island cools, rock solidifies, dust settles, particulates from other islands on the breeze and smaller breakaway isles are assimilated and in an accelerated process of growth, plant life springs up on the island with full grown forests known to grow in a single month. These life-spring islands are known as 'growing' isles and take from 1-6 months to raise from the depths, picking up various life and acclimatising as it does so. Settling (1-10 years) Once an island has risen to its resonant height, it goes through a few years of movement laterally, slowly shifting with the winds, storms, fields and sometimes through creature intervention. These still mobile isles very rarely move much in a vertical direction but can do so in small amounts. These are known as 'settling' islands. Safe (100+ years depending on size) After years of movement, an island will 'lock' into its location and not move much in any direction. It is believed that fields of surrounding islands interlock in a similar way to how magnetic fields do, and it has found a state where multiple fields are pushing and pulling with equal force to hold it there. These stable islands are known as 'safe'. This state can last for hundreds or even thousands of years depending on size (the standing belief being that the larger the island, the longer the safe period). Untethered (1-100 years) Towards the end of the island's 'safe' period, there will bit a little more lateral movement than usual, this begins the next stage, the island is becoming 'untethered' and will slowly break away from it's safe location and slowly begin to drift away, usually in a straight line. This would imply one side of the island's fields had become unstable. Inspection of field crystals throughout their lives have seen that over time their structures break down and micro cracks start to appear, it is when many of these micro cracks join and a much larger visible crack begins to form that the untethered state is triggered. Power output of these damaged crystals starts to fluctuate more and more as time goes on, causing an island to rise and fall as much as a whole whole bands worth over a year and once this starts, it only gets worse. These untethered islands are also known as 'cracked', 'dying' or 'Nixing and are seen as ticking time bombs before the next stage. Dead (Less than an hour from start to finish) The final stage is 'death'. When several large cracks in the resonant crystal structures join, the strain eventually causes it to shatter. The result of this shattering sends a shock wave from the core across the island, feeling like an earthquake to those standing on it and further through the sky, feeling like a sudden gust of wind. Anyone sensitive to these resonant fields has described the feeling like hearing a thousand screams of fear and hate being blasted through their heads, while the winds push them back, the resonant field pulls them forwards momentarily before silence remains. Then, silent moments later, the island and all smaller isles in its resonant gravity falls from the sky. Slowly at first but picking up speed as it does. The biggest danger here is that in both its infancy and untethered stages, the island may have become positioned over another safe island. If the falling dead islands collides with it, the destruction of the one below is almost always guaranteed unless the falling island is many times smaller. The catching island suffers a violent jolt which shatters its own crystal structures and both fall into the Nix. Never to be seen again.